Menstruating Americans have been on edge since the conservative Supreme Court’s plans to scrap Roe v Wade were leaked in the press. What we have feared would happen is happening, and it looks like, despite public outrage, abortion is set to be banned in several states, constituting about half of the country. Roe v Wade has allowed for the option to end one’s pregnancy due to myriad reasons. Health, age, rape, socioeconomics, and the decision not to have a child have been central reasons for abortions. Lately, the lack of empathy from U.S. Republicans for people who want and/or need abortions has been extremely disturbing.
Recently, Ohio Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt asserted that an unwanted pregnancy from rape is an “opportunity:” “It is a shame that it happens, but there’s an opportunity for that woman – no matter how young or old she is – to make a determination about what she’s going to do to help that life be a productive human being … That child can grow up… [to] cure cancer.” Conservatives have made themselves clear with how they feel about the autonomy of menstruating people: you are a vessel, nothing more. Such is the case with Rosemary Woodhouse of Rosemary’s Baby (1968).
Though pre-Roe, the film, and novel of Rosemary’s Baby highlight the sinister forces that try (and successfully) control women and their bodies. Rosemary is consistently gaslighted and abused by her self-absorbed husband Guy and the (unbeknownst to Rosemary) Satanist couple next door, Minnie and Roman Castavet. The couple’s ultimate goal is to find and support a vessel to birth the spawn of Satan. With the promise of fame and fortune, Roman convinces Guy to let their cult use Rosemary’s body to birth the demonic child, knowing that Rosemary has been trying to become pregnant. After drugging her, Guy facilitates his wife’s rape and jokes the morning after when Rosemary finds scratch marks down her back, “I didn’t want to miss baby night.”
Rosemary soon discovers she’s pregnant and is overjoyed, assuming Guy is the father. The cult and Guy control and supervise many aspects of her daily life, from what she eats to whom she speaks to. Rosemary’s body slowly begins to waste away, and she suffers from persistent stomach cramps. Her ghastly appearance is of no concern to Guy or the cult, who control everything she does with infantilizing-condescendence. They force Rosemary to listen only to Dr. Saperstein, a fellow Satanist, who refuses to give her anything to ease her pain.
After a month of agonizing cramps and frightening weight loss, Rosemary breaks down to her friends. “It hurts so much,” Rosemary cries. “I’m so afraid the baby’s gonna die.” After they tell her she should go see her regular doctor, Dr. Hill, Rosemary is adamant: “I won’t have an abortion.” Rosemary is Catholic. For a Catholic woman in 1966, abortion would be out of the question. But what if, had it not magically disappeared thanks to the cult, her pain continued? What if she were allowed to see Dr. Hill, and he explained her life was in danger? “What ifs” don’t do much for historical analysis; however, they point to a crucial aspect of the film: the illusion of choice.
Upon my last watch (prior to the leaked Supreme Court documents), the cult’s disinterest in Rosemary’s happiness and comfort is awfully similar to the Republican Party’s pro-life stance and focus on the growing fetus rather than the carrier. This is supported by feminist scholar Karyn Valerius in her piece “Rosemary’s Baby, Gothic Pregnancy, and Fetal Subjects,” where she equates Rosemary’s pregnancy and subsequent birth to the pro-life efforts taken by the Religious Right, “which, like the coven, is a religious minority seeking to subvert the status quo,” to ensure pregnancies come to full term regardless of the feelings of the carrier. The birth of Rosemary’s baby serves the purposes of the cult, not Rosemary. The child supports the agenda of a religious group that does not have to endure the consequences of bearing that child.
To further this point, I cite a 2008 article from Slate concerning the then-GOP presidential ticket’s stance on a pregnant person’s right to choose, “[the GOP position on abortion] does show a growing inclination to treat grownup women as little girls. As important as the decision to end a pregnancy is, the matter of who gets to decide maybe even more important. And that decision is increasingly being taken out of the hands of women and put into the hands of strangers.” In Rosemary’s case, the cult and Guy have complete control over her and her pregnancy. In addition, religious guilt compels her to carry the baby despite significant health risks before her pain’s sudden disappearance.
Roman Castavet uses this to his advantage when he gives Rosemary the “choice” of raising her baby. “Be a mother to him,” advises Roman. “Minnie and Laura-Louise are too old. It’s not right.” He leverages Rosemary’s religious guilt in his favor, manipulating her (and anyone raised Catholic, like myself, knows how powerful this guilt can be). He knows Rosemary wouldn’t abandon her baby, and could therefore count on the young mother to raise the child under his watchful eye.
Rosemary wanted to be a mother, but not like this. In the end, as she is surrounded by Satanic parasites and presented with a child who “has his father’s eyes,” Rosemary decides to be its mother. The motherhood presented to Rosemary was curated by insidious people. At the film’s end, it is proven that there is no clear escape from the powerful cult.
What makes Rosemary’s Baby effective in pro-choice discourse is the fact that throughout the film, Rosemary’s body is never her own; rather, Rosemary’s body has been taken over not just by the child growing inside her, but by a group of people planning to use the baby for their own selfish prerogative. “Crucially,” states author Paul Wells in The Horror Genre: From Beelzebub to Blair Witch, “Rosemary’s Baby playfully engages with empathy and identification in the sense that we are offered Rosemary’s perspective and necessarily must believe that her life is being determined by satanist conspiracy….”
If Roe v Wade is deemed unconstitutional, the right of menstruating people to govern their own bodies is gone, just as the cult kept Rosemary from making decisions about her own pregnancy. Rosemary had no choice: social pressures made her give birth to and help raise a religious group’s instrument. While Republican senators assert that menstruating people have a choice whether or not to become pregnant in the first place, they disregard the reality of unwanted or dangerous pregnancies where, if Roe v Wade is overturned; there will be no choice for these people other than to give birth and reap its effects, autonomy be damned.